2020 Brownlow Medal

Last updated

2020 Brownlow Medal
Lachie-Neale-Rd-22-2015.jpg
2020 Brownlow Medallist, Lachie Neale
Date18 October 2020
LocationVarious venues
Hosted by Hamish McLachlan and Jacqui Felgate
Winner Lachie Neale (Brisbane Lions)
(31 votes)
Television/radio coverage
Network Seven Network
Telstra
  2019  · Brownlow Medal ·  2021  

The 2020 Brownlow Medal was the 93rd year the award was presented to the player adjudged the best and fairest player during the Australian Football League (AFL) home-and-away season. Lachie Neale of the Brisbane Lions was the winner, with 31 votes. [1]

Contents

Neale's tally of 31 votes from only 17 matches (1.82 per game) in the shortened 2020 season set a new record for most votes per game by a winner under the 3–2–1 voting system. Neale broke the long-standing record of Dick Reynolds, who polled 27 votes from the 15 games he played in 1937 (1.80 per game); and held the record until it was broken by Patrick Cripps in 2024. [2]

Leading vote-getters

PlayerVotes
1st Lachie Neale (Brisbane Lions)31
2nd Travis Boak (Port Adelaide)21
=3rd Christian Petracca (Melbourne)20
Jack Steele (St Kilda)
=5th Patrick Dangerfield (Geelong)15
Dustin Martin (Richmond)
Jack Macrae (Western Bulldogs)
Luke Parker (Sydney)
=9th Cameron Guthrie (Geelong)14
Clayton Oliver (Melbourne)

*The player was ineligible to win the medal due to suspension by the AFL Tribunal during the year.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic which caused the season to be suspended for nearly three months, the regular season was reduced from 22 matches per club to 17, with each team playing each other once as well as having a bye round.

In September, it was announced that the Brownlow Medal count would be held as a virtual event, with joint functions held on the Gold Coast, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth, but not at the Crown Palladium as had been the case since 2003. [3]

Voting procedure

The three field umpires (those umpires who control the flow of the game, as opposed to goal or boundary umpires) confer after each match and award three votes, two votes, and one vote to the players they regard as the best, second-best and third-best in the match, respectively. The votes are kept secret until the awards night, and they are read and tallied on the evening. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brownlow Medal</span> Award in Australian Football League

The Charles Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal, is awarded to the Best and fairest player in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the home-and-away season, as determined by votes cast by the four officiating field umpires after each game. It is the most prestigious award for individual players in the AFL. It is also widely acknowledged as the highest individual honour in the sport of Australian rules football.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Travis Boak</span> Australian rules footballer

Travis Alexander Boak is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Port Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Boak captained the club from 2013 to 2018, and is a three-time All-Australian, dual John Cahill Medallist and three-time Showdown Medallist. He is also the club's AFL games record holder with 368 games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2006 Brownlow Medal</span> Award

The 2006 Brownlow Medal was the 79th year the award was presented to the player adjudged the fairest and best player during the Australian Football League (AFL) home and away season. Adam Goodes of the Sydney Swans won the medal by polling twenty-six votes during the 2006 AFL season. It was Goodes' second Brownlow Medal win, after his victory in 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2007 Brownlow Medal</span> Award

The 2007 Brownlow Medal was the 80th year the award was presented to the player adjudged the fairest and best player during the Australian Football League (AFL) home and away season. Jimmy Bartel of the Geelong Football Club won the medal by polling twenty-nine votes during the 2007 AFL season.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2008 Brownlow Medal</span> Award

The 2008 Brownlow Medal was the 81st year the award was presented to the player adjudged the fairest and best player during the Australian Football League (AFL) home and away season. Adam Cooney of the Western Bulldogs won the medal by polling twenty-four votes during the 2008 AFL season. Pre-vote favourite, Gary Ablett and sentimental favourite, Matthew Richardson finished equal third on twenty-two votes. Cooney polled twenty-four votes, one ahead of Brisbane's Simon Black, who won the award in 2002 and was equal second in 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2009 Brownlow Medal</span> Award

The 2009 Brownlow Medal was the 82nd year the award was presented to the player adjudged the fairest and best player during the Australian Football League (AFL) home-and-away season. Gary Ablett Jr of the Geelong Football Club won the medal by polling 30 votes during the 2009 AFL season.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2010 Brownlow Medal</span> Award

The 2010 Brownlow Medal was the 83rd year the award was presented to the player adjudged the fairest and best player during the Australian Football League (AFL) home and away season. Chris Judd of the Carlton Football Club won the medal by polling thirty votes during the 2010 AFL season. It was broadcast on Channel Ten and, for the first time, simultaneously on One live and nationally.

The 2004 Brownlow Medal was the 77th year the award was presented to the player adjudged the fairest and best player during the Australian Football League (AFL) home-and-away season. Chris Judd of the West Coast Eagles won the medal by polling thirty votes during the 2004 AFL season.

The 2003 Brownlow Medal was the 76th year the award was presented to the player adjudged the fairest and best player during the Australian Football League (AFL) home-and-away season. Nathan Buckley of the Collingwood Football Club, Adam Goodes of the Sydney Swans, and Mark Ricciuto of the Adelaide Football Club all won the medal by polling twenty-two votes each during the 2003 AFL season.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2011 Brownlow Medal</span> Award

The 2011 Brownlow Medal was the 84th year the award was presented to the player adjudged the fairest and best player during the Australian Football League (AFL) home and away season. Dane Swan of the Collingwood Football Club won the medal by polling thirty-four votes during the 2011 AFL season.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lachie Neale</span> Australian rules footballer (born 1993)

Lachlan Oliver Neale is an Australian rules footballer and the co-captain of the Brisbane Lions in the Australian Football League (AFL). He previously played for the Fremantle Football Club from 2012 to 2018 before being traded to the Brisbane Lions in 2019, where he captained a premiership in 2024 and won the Brownlow Medal in both 2020 and 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2013 Brownlow Medal</span> Award

The 2013 Brownlow Medal was the 86th year the award was presented to the player adjudged the fairest and best player during the Australian Football League (AFL) home and away season. Gary Ablett of the Gold Coast Football Club won the medal for the second time by polling twenty-eight votes during the 2013 AFL season.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2015 Brownlow Medal</span> Award

The 2015 Brownlow Medal was the 88th year the award was presented to the player adjudged the fairest and best player during the Australian Football League (AFL) home and away season. Nat Fyfe of the Fremantle Football Club won the medal by polling thirty-one votes during the 2015 AFL season. He became the first Fremantle player to win the Brownlow Medal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2017 Brownlow Medal</span> Award

The 2017 Brownlow Medal was the 90th year the award was presented to the player adjudged the fairest and best player during the Australian Football League (AFL) home and away season. Dustin Martin of the Richmond Football Club won the medal with a record-breaking 36 votes, which was tied by Ollie Wines in 2021, until it was broken by Patrick Cripps in 2024.

The AFL Women's best and fairest is awarded to the best and fairest player in the AFL Women's (AFLW) during the home-and-away season, as determined by votes cast by the officiating field umpires after each game. It is the most prestigious award for individual players in the AFLW. It is also widely acknowledged as the highest individual honour in women's Australian rules football.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2018 Brownlow Medal</span> Award

The 2018 Brownlow Medal was the 91st year the award was presented to the player adjudged the fairest and best player during the Australian Football League (AFL) home-and-away season. Tom Mitchell of the Hawthorn Football Club won the medal with 28 votes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2021 Brownlow Medal</span> Award

The 2021 Brownlow Medal was the 94th year the award was presented to the player adjudged the best and fairest player during the Australian Football League (AFL) home-and-away season. For the second year in a row, due to the travel restrictions imposed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia, the ceremony was not held in Melbourne but instead a mainly made-for-television event, with players attending their nearest function in four different states. With Perth hosting the 2021 AFL Grand Final, the main function was held at Optus Stadium on Sunday, 19 September 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 Brownlow Medal</span> Award

The 2022 Brownlow Medal was the 95th year the award is presented to the player adjudged the best and fairest player during the Australian Football League (AFL) home-and-away season. It was won by Carlton midfielder Patrick Cripps. The 2022 Brownlow Medal count was originally scheduled for Monday 19 September, its traditional date on the Monday before the grand final. It was rescheduled to Sunday 18 September at a week's notice, to avoid a clash with the funeral of Elizabeth II. The event returned to its conventional format and venue—a gala dinner at the Crown Palladium in Melbourne—after having been held virtually for the previous two seasons due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2023 Brownlow Medal</span> Award

The 2023 Brownlow Medal was the 96th year the award was presented to the player adjudged the best and fairest player during the Australian Football League (AFL) home-and-away season. It was won by Lachie Neale for the second time, with 31 votes; Neale had previously won the medal in 2020. The count took place on Monday 25 September, five days before the grand final.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2024 Brownlow Medal</span> Award

The 2024 Brownlow Medal was the 97th year the award was presented to the player adjudged the best and fairest player during the Australian Football League (AFL) home-and-away season. The count took place on Monday 23 September in Melbourne at the Crown Palladium, five days before the grand final. Patrick Cripps of Carlton won the medal with 45 votes; it was his second medal, having previously won the medal in 2022.

References

  1. Laughton, Max (18 October 2020). "It's a landslide! Lions star Neale claims crushing Brownlow win to cap stunning season". FOX Sports. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
  2. "Brownlow Medal Winners". AFL Tables. Retrieved 19 October 2024.
  3. "Made for TV: Brownlow Medal count to be 'virtual' event". AFL.com.au. 16 September 2020. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
  4. "Brownlow History". afl.com.au. Retrieved 19 September 2021.